1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a carrier for carrying up to a predetermined number of drink cups, and more particularly to a cup carrier which is adaptable to carrying drink cups of different sizes.
2. Description of the Related Art
Food services facilities generally provide cups of paper, plastic, styrofoam or cardboard for carryout drink service. When more than one drink is purchased by a customer, the difficulty of carrying several drink cups from the food service facility becomes apparent, particularly when the cups are of different sizes. Customers often attempt to balance or hold the drinks cups individually, frequently resulting in spills. On occasion, the drink cups are placed in a paper bag for carryout; however, paper bags lack stability to maintain the drink cups upright and spills occur within the paper bag, the paper weakens and the drink cups fall through the bottom of the paper bag.
Multiple drink orders may also be served with a cardboard tray for holding the drink cups. The drink cups rest on a bottom floor of the tray, and the sides of the cups near the bottom are engaged by a second portion of the tray. Such trays are generally insufficiently strong to adequately support drink cups full of liquids. Also, by engaging the drink cups at points near the bottom of the cup, instability during carrying results, often leading to tipping of cups and spilling of the contents. When smaller cups are carried in such trays, they are held less tightly than larger cups due to their smaller bottom diameters.
A related cup caddy is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,793,647, issued Dec. 27, 1988. The cup caddy has cup carrier portions with circular openings that engage the side walls of the cup by sliding up the sides until the cup engaging portion reaches a point that diameter of the cup wall matches the diameter of the opening. Although cups of somewhat different sizes can be carried therein, more widely ranging cup sizes cannot be carried effectively in one size cup caddy.